A brand new Innkeeper remarked to me that they had spent a lot of time prior to buying the Inn discovering why people came there.  With that knowledge, they were going to change their marketing plans to try to attract as many of those people as possible.  As he said, “People can read a book [...]

Innkeeping can be a very rewarding career for individuals who enjoy people and want to be self employed.  However, Innkeeping is not for all people.  To truly understand Innkeeping we suggest that education be on the top of the list before taking the plunge!  
Education happens by speaking with current Innkeepers, staying at Inns, and keeping [...]

In this new world of expanding Electronic Marketing and Social Media for Inns, it is easy to overlook one goal that has not changed with time.  Good old fashioned hospitality and excellence of service combine to keep your guests happy, and most of all, to get them to come back for a repeat visit.  This [...]

In our last post on this subject, we explored the concept of adding value to keep bed and breakfast packages attractive to guests.  The whole idea was to package room nights with additional services and experiences in such a way that the brand identity of the Inns was not impacted by the built-in discounts.  The [...]

I posed the question on Twitter yesterday as to whether Innkeepers think that their Cancellation Policies help or hurt their businesses.  I received some really interesting answers; not a scientific survey, but the reactions of some very smart people in our Bed and Breakfast Industry.  It turned into a sort of on-line discussion, and Twitter [...]

At PAII 2007, we did a presentation called “Creative Electronic Marketing: Proven Methods to Reach Profitability.”  At the time this was mostly about email marketing, and in several of the slides we pointed out the Top Ten Topics to include in newsletters about the Inn.  We concluded the seminar with examples, both good and bad, [...]

There is a new concept in the world of Internet Social Media. “Reputation Management” is essentially the ability to deal with the consumer generated reviews and comments about your Inn business posted throughout the Internet. There are now hundreds of web sites allowing consumers (i.e. your guests) to post comments about [...]

So you may ask, how does Blogging affect my Bed & Breakfast? The bottom line is that now is the time to get on the social media bandwagon and start Blogging your Bed & Breakfast. Blogging is one of the most cost effective ways to market, but it does take time, energy, [...]

With a clear downturn in the economy facing us, it is really time to put your Inn’s business practices in order. Metrics is the study of measuring past performance so that you can improve your business. The basic concept is that you cannot improve the future without looking at what happened in [...]

For those in the full service Country Inn world, one of the greatest fears is to be in the middle of dinner service one evening, only to hear shouting from the kitchen as your chef walks out never to return. As this happens not infrequently with “artistic” staff people, it is very important for all [...]